Alon said a malfunction of a sulfur recovery unit at its refinery in Big Springs, Texas, resulted in reduced charge rates at several processing units to minimize emissions. A sour water stripper was taken out of service and steam was vented as necessary to safety flare devices, according to the company.

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By ROSE MARTON-VITALE

Alon said a malfunction of a sulfur recovery unit at its refinery in Big Springs, Texas,
resulted in reduced charge rates at several processing units to
minimize emissions, a filing to environmental regulators said.

The report didn't say whether the units had been returned to
normal rates, but said emissions associated with the event
ended within four hours of starting.

The filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said
operations followed acid gas shedding procedures to minimize emissions and reduced charge rates
at the refinery's diesel hydrotreater unit
as well as key gasoline producing fluid catalytic cracking
units. A sour water stripper was taken out of service and steam
was vented as necessary to safety flare devices.

An Alon representative wasn't immediately available to
comment.

Alon's Big Spring refinery is a sour crude oil
cracking facility capable of processing 70,000 bpd of crude
oil. Its production of clean gasoline, ULSD fuel, jet fuel and
other petrochemical products is delivered
by major third party pipelines to various locations in the
Southwest and Mid Continent.

Dow Jones Newswires

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